06 April 2010

Victimless Crimes...


Now that you have studied the Five Classifications of Crime in class please address the following questions...

1) Are victimless crimes only hurting the person committing the crime or do you think that society as a whole suffers as well?

2) Should victimless crimes be decriminalized?

13 comments:

yelda17 said...

I believe that victimless crimes hurt the individual as well as the people around them. It hurts mostly the people you live with and are friends with for example your family. I think this because many children suffer when they're parents are drug dealers and drinks or gambles all day. I dont think they should be decriminalized because some people take it a bit too far and we should still keep it a part of the crime laws and it should remain a victimless crime. For example some people abuse others when they drink too much or when they are taking drugs, so it should always be a part of the crime laws.

jake said...

For the most part, victimless crimes are completely victimless. However, our society has made some of them crimes for the sole purpose of protecting their mental crutch known as 'morals'. By making certain 'vulgar' things illegal, they can attempt to protect their sense of security and their weak-minded oversensitivity. examples of some of these crimes include obscenity laws, censorship, abortion laws(arguable), indecency laws, assisted suicide prohibition and many more. The one that makes me the most angry is the public urination law. it makes it illegal to empty your bladder in the middle of the woods.

another large problem are prohibition laws in general. doing drugs is a victimless crime, but if said drug is illegal, other crimes need to be committed in the process, thus creating victims. The mexican drug cartel exists solely due to prohibition laws. Prohibition is completely counteractive to its goals. The government put these laws in place to 'protect the population'. However the only method of protection that works is education. If someone wants to do heroin, and knows all the facts about it, the government has no right to stop them from using it. But for the most part, someone educated about heroin isn't likely to go and shoot up.

Also, censorship laws are mainly in place to protect children. Again, it is completely counterproductive. if you hide things from children, they will remain ignorant. and lest the government and the public forget, we are animals. seeing someone naked wont destroy the mind of a child. It's up to the parents to shield their children, not anyone else.

victimless crimes should be completely removed, not just decriminalized.

Shaw said...

I believe that they are only hurting the person doing the act. These acts can hurt other people if the one committing the act is taking it to an extreme but there are places where the people who take it to an extreme can go for help. I think that these crimes so be decriminalized because as jake said prohibition do not stop anything only education will stop people from doing certain things and if the person knows what will happen to them they should be allowed to do these things, such as drugs, drinking or gambling. Laws against victimless crimes, i think, are just a way to control what you do just because those in power do not agree with your actions.

DGopie21 said...

I do think victimless crime hurts only the person that is doing the crime. Due to the fact that this isnt other people faults as to why this person is commiting this crime. It was their option they chose to do it on their own. Yes of course the people that this person is related to they is going to ask themselve oh why is my relative doing this, but they cant do anything about the situation.They made the choice so now they should live with their desicion which is only hurting themselves.I dont think they should decriminalize this because then people would take advantage of it. It should be apart of crime because they know what there doing is wrong but continue to do it anyway because it satisfies them.

drawolle said...

I don't think that I could say it any better than Jake did, victimless crimes(for the most part), are just that: victimless. The person committing the act is the only person who can judge whether the act is hurting or helping them. And as Jake said, many laws that are there to protect us become part of a chain reaction that can(in the drug cartel's case especially) hurt or even murder other people. There is no sense in keeping them outlawed, or even decriminalized, it just leads the criminal to commit more crime. And for the most part, these laws can be regulated. Abortion, for example, could be an operation preserved for specific situations such as rape, or for girls under a certain age who want the operation. If prostitutes had a federal boss instead of a pimp, they would be safer and survive longer. Many of these laws are here to protect us, but they seriously violate our civil liberties. What truly DISGUSTS me is that tobacco and liquor are legal and regulated--these are two of the leading causes of preventable death in the US. Alcohol impairs one's judgement and vision beyond belief if the proper level is consumed, and the government still distributes it. Marijuana, especially, is a drug that has less effect on your judgement than alcohol, and due to the Mexican drug cartel, it's causing more harm through purchasing it than consuming it--a problem that the United States could absolutely fix.

mariaht said...

I do believe that victimless crimes affect both the individual and the others in society; although the levels of severity differ. They hurt the individual in the sense of causing bodily harm - when dealing with drugs, alochol or prostitution and finical harm when dealing with something such as gambeling. Society is harmed by the repercussions of these actions. Families may be broken apart if a member becomes addicted to drugs or develops a gambeling problem. Children are put at higher rick for developing the addictions of which their parents suffer. Society as a whole will be effected by any crimes committed in order to fund these addictions-such as robbery.

Victimless crimes should not be decriminalized, but rather removed. This is becaue many when a majorrity of people are arrested and charged with these crimes, they will continue to engage in the same actions, making the charge almost pointless.

R Amorim said...

I believe that victimless crimes only do hurt the people involved, but sometimes others do suffer. An example would be a drug addict or a gambling addict. Let's say that either is a drifter. In that case there is no victim other than the drifter. But now let's say the addict has a family. Now more people are suffering due to their choices. They should not be decriminalized because it will only make the problems worse. If we decriminalize these acts then people will just abuse them more because they will not think of it as doing something wrong. There are other victims involved more often than not.

brett m said...

I agree with Randy on this, victimless crimes only do hurt the person committing the crime. If someone is a drug addict, they are only really hurting themselves in this situation. They MAY go and hurt someone else through this, but mostly they would end up having a short life because they are drug addicts. I do not think that victimless crimes should be decriminalized because some people abuse these, and some people don't abuse these victimless crimes. So the people that abuse them, will only hurt themselves in the end.

emily76 said...

i think that society suffers as well becasue i think that it can hurt people around you also. that is like if your father is a illegal gambler or drug user it can cause problems in his marrige and might lead to a divorce which can have a tole on the children and how they feel twords their father, also it might develope trust issue when they get older and them not trusting others due to the fact that they couldnt trust thier own family. i think prostitution can have a big tole on the relationships between parents and their children too. i dont think it should be de criminalized however becasue the people are chooseing to do it to themselves, as maybe sometimes a moral desicion and thats their problem. you can really penalize someone for doing what they want.

Andre M said...

I don't think that victimless crimes only hurt the person committing the crime because other people have to put up with it as well. For example, with vagrancy, if a person doesn't want to leave someone's home, then the other people who live there also have to suffer with them. I do not think that they should be decriminalized. I feel as though the people who commit victimless crimes are lazy and don't want to do anything, such as homeless people and drug users. Also, certain victimless crimes set a bad example for others, and that is another reason that they should not be decriminalized.

Shayne said...

I think that victimless crimes hurt the individual more for the most part but it can also harm others and overall society as a whole. I think that victimless crimes should be decriminalized because with or without laws people will make mistakes or choices that a frowned upon by society.These "victimless crimes" that we deem unlawful and try to remove from our society is actually a big part of it and still even with laws they continue to thats why I feel like the should be decriminalized.

Nova77 said...

i believe that victimless crimes should be decriminalised because it is the persons choice who is doin the act. For example if some one were to smoke weed all they do is like to sit around and chill, they are not bothering anyone at all. But some people take it too far by being drug dealers but if you decriminalize or legalize, stores could carry marijuana just like cigarettes and that does not bother people. Also i have the feeling that if it were decriminalized or legalised it would help the economy out with taxing for example prostitutes have to get licenses to prostitute and marijuana is basically self explanitory

MCastagna said...

I think that victimless crimes should be decriminalized. I think that there can't be a crime without a victim and the only real "victim" in these scenarios are the people committing the crime. I think that people today worry to much about what "society" thinks. It is amazing how society's thoughts are no longer the group consensus on things but have somewhat morphed into it's own entity. I personally think that it is time to put the monster back into it's cage and we should no longer worry so much about what "society" thinks. People should live their lives the way that is right for them. If someone thinks that there best course is to sell their body or drugs then they should be allowed to do that. These things being "crimes" basically protect the weak from people who can easily take advantage of that weakness. If our country was truly capitalistic these things would just be high grossing job choices that are morally questionable to most.